In another legal twist, one of the judges who rejected Hay's initial appeal was Michael Moldaver, who has since been appointed to the Supreme Court.

Moldaver was not involved in Friday's Supreme Court ruling.

Hay's lawyer, James Lockyer, said his client won't be a free man any time soon.

He said he will bring a bail application to have Hay transferred to a psychiatric hospital because he has serious mental disabilities and likely can't cope in the outside world.

"Leighton Hay is a highly vulnerable member of society," said Lockyer, the founder of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, which has successfully exposed several wrongful convictions in Canada.

"That's what I'll be asking for in the court — that he be essentially given bail so he can move into a hospital."

Lockyer said Hay's father and sister were "over the moon," when they learned of the Supreme Court's decision in his Toronto office.

But Lockyer said he didn't actually think Hay was able to grasp what had happened when he reached his client inside Millhaven Penitentiary.

Lockyer also spoke to Hay's doctors, who told him his client described Friday's decision was "bad news," likely because he was unsure of how he would be able to replace his familiar routine outside prison walls.

"There's a framework to his existence," Lockyer explained.

Nevertheless, Lockyer said Hay's doctors were happy for him, something he doesn't typically see with other clients.